Nicaraguan Contras

For North to be put in the same category with Goetz and the Bakkers is probably the most flagrant violation of good taste that I have ever observed in my 50 years of reading your paper. L.E. NORRIS Rancho Santa Fe (The Times has received 789 letters against North's actions, 265 in support of him and 310 commenting on additional issues at the hearings.)

October 18, 2006 | Greg Grandin, GREG GRANDIN is the author of "Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism." A longer version of this article also appears at TomDispatch.com.

A REPUBLICAN PARTY on the ropes, bloodied by a mid-second-term scandal; a resurrected Democratic opposition, sure it can capitalize on public outrage. But before Democrats start divvying up House committee assignments, they should consider that they've been here before. And things didn't turn out exactly as they'd hoped. It was 20 years ago this Nov.

Honduran President Jose Azcona Hoyo explained to President-elect Bush his country's concern over the prolonged presence of thousands of Nicaraguan Contras in bases in Honduras. "I told him we needed some time . . . to formulate our policies," Bush told reporters in a terse statement after the 30-minute meeting in Washington. Azcona said he outlined for Bush the "difficult situation of Honduras in this problem of the Contra revolution."

Legendary Los Angeles drug dealer "Freeway" Ricky Ross is set to be sentenced to federal prison today amid renewed speculation about the international roots of L.A.'s crack cocaine epidemic. For more than a decade, there has been a heated debate about how crack became the devastating drug of choice in America's inner cities, and why the U.S. government was not able to stem the flow of cocaine from Latin America.

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, a key figure in the network set up by former White House aide Oliver L. North to arm the Nicaraguan Contras, agreed Friday to drop an appeal of his conviction for his role in the Iran-Contra affair, according to court papers. In a plea agreement with independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, Secord last year pleaded guilty to a felony count of lying to congressional investigators and was sentenced to two years of probation.

I find articles like the one from Purcell totally abhorrent. The Nicaraguan Contras have shown themselves to be cowards and amoral scum, killing women, children, and unarmed men without remorse. The elected leaders of Nicaragua act to prevent another CIA-backed fiasco like the one in Chile and Purcell advocates turning the Contra animals loose to butcher again. I have no doubt the Nicaraguan people, who so valiantly tossed out an oppressive regime in 1979, will be able to do the same again without our "help" if the need arises.

Conservative fund-raiser Carl R. (Spitz) Channell pleaded guilty today to the first criminal charges filed in the Iran- contra scandal and named Lt. Col. Oliver L. North as a co-conspirator in a scheme to defraud the government. Channell agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutor Lawrence E. Walsh's investigation of the Iran-contra affair. Channell, 41, appearing before U.S.

A federal judge Tuesday ordered CIA Director Robert M. Gates to testify for the defense at the perjury and obstruction trial of former CIA spy chief Clair E. George, declaring: "Mr. Gates is up to his eyeballs in his knowledge of this subject." Justice Department lawyers had argued on behalf of the CIA that there was no "sound basis" for subpoenaing Gates. But U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth disagreed, saying that "what Mr. Gates knew can be very critical to Mr. George's defense."

A former CIA operative who coordinated arms shipments to the Nicaraguan Contras testified Tuesday that he changed his mind about leaving Central America after a 1986 meeting in the office of then-Vice President George Bush. The testimony by CIA operative Felix Rodriguez, which came at the perjury and obstruction trial of former CIA spy chief Clair E. George, did not implicate Bush because Rodriguez said the secret 1986 efforts to supply the Contras were not discussed in Bush's presence.

Israel Galeano, 38, a former leader of the Nicaraguan Contra rebels who was known as Comandante Franklin. Galeano at one point was chief of staff for the U.S.-backed rebels who battled the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua through most of the 1980s. The civil war ended with President Violeta Chamorro's 1990 election victory over the Sandinistas.

As part of their defense strategy, attorneys for former Panamanian dictator Manuel A. Noriega hope to convince jurors at his federal court trial that their client was a good friend and ally of the United States.

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, a key figure in the network set up by former White House aide Oliver L. North to arm the Nicaraguan Contras, agreed Friday to drop an appeal of his conviction for his role in the Iran-Contra affair, according to court papers. In a plea agreement with independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, Secord last year pleaded guilty to a felony count of lying to congressional investigators and was sentenced to two years of probation.

The Bush Administration launched a diplomatic campaign Friday to persuade the Nicaraguan Contras--whose rebel army was built with U.S. funds--to give up their guns now that their goal has been won. But so far, the Contras aren't cooperating. Nicaraguan President-elect Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, who won a surprise victory in last Sunday's election with the Contras' support, has called on the estimated 10,000 rebels to demobilize before her inauguration April 25.

Honduran President Jose Azcona Hoyo explained to President-elect Bush his country's concern over the prolonged presence of thousands of Nicaraguan Contras in bases in Honduras. "I told him we needed some time . . . to formulate our policies," Bush told reporters in a terse statement after the 30-minute meeting in Washington. Azcona said he outlined for Bush the "difficult situation of Honduras in this problem of the Contra revolution."

LEGACY by James A. Michener (Fawcett/Crest: $4.95). Fictionalization of Iran-Contra hearings measures constitutional protections against personal choices. (Contains excerpts from Michener's newest book "Alaska.") NEW MEXICO! by Dana Fuller Ross (Bantam: $4.50). Picking up the trail is Toby Holt, following in his father's footsteps. He has secret orders to infiltrate the ring of marauding comancheros who threaten the white settlers, Indians, and Mexicans.